The Mulder and Scully Files: Into The Woods
by blossomofsnow65
Summary: Mulder and Scully have some fun in the woods. Post MSIV. Pure fluff.
1. Chapter 1

The year was 2018 and it had gone by in the blink of an eye. The month was September, early days of Autumn to be exact, and Scully was during her last stages of pregnancy. The weather was pleasant enough for her and Mulder to hang out all day on their porch. They had had lunch - Scully was tired and Mulder was a bit lazy that day, so he made some sandwiches and apple juice (Scully's latest craving) -, read sitting next to each other, or lying on the hammock reminiscing old times, talking about what was about to come, and Mulder spoke to the baby when he thought that Scully had fallen asleep.

They tried to leave behind the events that occurred earlier that year and would try not to talk about it. After they witnessed what they thought was the death of their son, Mulder and Scully drove back to the Unremarkable House and Scully immediately apologised to him about what she had said. William was their son and she had the DNA results from the tests she made when William was born to prove it.

A few weeks later, Scully began having visions and she started to feel in her bones that her son was alive, and, lo and behold, a couple of months after the visions started, William showed up at their doorstep. He was welcomed with hugs and tears and with an offer to stay, which he did for a few days. After that, he would check up on Scully through their shared visions or he'd crash at their home for no more than three days.

"Mulder?" Scully sleepily interrupted Mulder from his thoughts.

"Hmm?" He replied into her ear while getting a good whiff of her hair.

"What are you thinking about?" She turned her head and gazed at his beautiful hazel eyes.

Scully was very hormonal lately, and he feared that telling her the truth about thinking about their son would upset her. So instead, he lied and said, "I'm thinking that it's a beautiful day and that this baby is being very active today." He caressed Scully's belly with his thumbs and the baby replied with a kick to his carefully placed hands.

Scully chuckled. "That's funny, I was thinking the same thing. And that it's a beautiful day to go for a walk in the woods. Maybe the little lady will chill and sleep for a while." She turned her attention to the beckoning woods and smiled with satisfaction.

"Really? Are you sure?" Given that Scully was having their daughter – _their daughter_ – at such a late stage in their lives, Mulder was wary of Scully throughout her pregnancy. Scully didn't mind all the hovering at first, but when she caught him standing outside the bathroom door while she was peeing, she had had enough. Still, that didn't stop him from worrying about her crazy bouts of energy, such as cleaning the entire house, lifting heavy furniture, redecorating the nursery that had already been set up, and, now, a walk in the woods.

"Yeah. I promise if I get tired or have any kind of discomfort I'll tell you right away and we'll turn around and come back home." She said as she struggled to get up.

Mulder chuckled and easily stood up – oh, how Scully envied that nowadays -, offering a hand. She took it and he pulled her up. "Fine. But take a jacket just in case. Otherwise we're not going." Mulder stomp his foot and crossed his arms.

Scully chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Deal."

Xxxxx

The leaves had changed their colours and the woods looked like a beautiful Autumn painting filled with reds, oranges, yellows and browns. They walked hand in hand and, from time to time, they'd take in deep, deep breaths, enjoying the glorious Autumn smell.

Sure enough, as Mulder predicted, it started to get cold. He could tell that Scully was starting to feel the change of the weather when she crossed her arms and rubbed them up and down. He smiled and put the jacket around her shoulders – "I'll take it, Scully. No need for you to carry extra weight," he had said nodding towards her belly; he was awarded with a glare – and Scully smiled back.

As they got deeper into the woods, they spotted several piles of leaves. Mulder ran towards them as if it was the first time he had seen a pile of leaves and started throwing them up in the air. Scully stood watching him with a hand on her hip and the other rubbing circles on her belly. The baby had calmed down, but had yet to fall asleep. She chuckled and said, "Mulder, you do know that you're ruining some poor man's meticulous job, right? And that you're a grown man?"

"Oh, come on, Scully. Don't tell me you never played with leaves as a child."

"Actually, I was more worried about making those piles so that Ahab wouldn't chastise me."

"Well, get in here! You have to practice for when the little nugget starts to play with them." Mulder ran to another pile and started destroying it. Scully looked up to the sky and smiled. She felt bad for the poor, hard working man, but he did have a point. Plus, she would be lying if she didn't admit that it looked pretty darn fun.

She walked as fast as she could and she joined Mulder. Leaves flew everywhere and Mulder made sure that most of them would land on top of her head. She hated having leaves and dirt in her hair, but she loved it at the same time. She loved Mulder and she had had far worst things in her hair than dirt. Like manure from that killer cockroaches case.

Just as they finished playing with the last pile, Scully spoke, "Listen Mulder. I'm not saying that I'm not having fun or anything. But I am getting tired, my feet are swollen like balloons and it's cold. So…"

"Come on, babe. Let's go home. But first, a photo." Mulder started to take his phone out of his pocket and Scully groaned. He walked towards her and hugged her by the shoulders. Even though Scully wasn't keen on getting her picture taken, when Mulder held his phone up, she put on the biggest smile and didn't even care on taking the leaves out of her hair. Mulder mirrored her smile and took the picture.

"Okay. Now, let's get cracking. I'll make some mulled wine." Mulder kept his arm around her shoulder and lead them towards their house.

"Mulder, you don't know how to make mulled wine. And need I remind you that I'm pregnant?"

"Fine. I'll make mulled wine for myself and some hot apple cider for you. How's that?"

"Mulder, you don't know how to make any of those things."

"Ah, Scully. You're taking me for granted, I'll look it up online." Mulder waved a hand in the air as if it was not a big deal and smirked.

Scully laughed. "Mulder the Internet's not good for you, I've told you that a billion times. And you've told me a billion times that you hate browsing through food blogs because they all start with the story of the day they made the food, and by the time you get to the recipe you just don't want to cook anymore."

"You're right. But right now my lady wants some hot apple cider, so I'll endure those dreadful stories that no one cares." Mulder kissed her head. Scully still had leaves in her hair and Mulder wiped them off. "So, how's my little girl. Asleep yet?"

"I think she is. Your big girl, on the other hand, is getting sleepy."

"Oh, no. I was hoping I would get lucky tonight after all the fun I put you through."

Scully chuckled and elbowed him on the ribs. Mulder yelped. "Not tonight, big boy. But I'll settle for a foot massage."

He would miss spending time alone with Scully and being childish in the woods while playing with leaves, but a more exciting part of his life was about to come. Sure, it wasn't going to be just him and Scully destroying pile of leaves, but a little girl would join them and make a hell more of a mess than they just did. And he was looking forward to it more than anything else.

Mulder smiled and hugged her close. "It would be my pleasure, ma'am."


	2. Chapter 2

Five years had gone by in a blink of an eye since their last day of fun in the woods. Shortly after that day, Scully had to go on bed rest until the birth of their daughter on the day of Mulder's birthday (something that he hadn't realised until Scully told him after his daughter was placed safely on his wife's chest.)

This year, Lily turns five years-old and they decided to celebrate it just the three of them. Sure, Lily had plenty of friends she had made at preschool, but she was much happier spending time at home with her two favourite people than running around with other five year-olds. "I can do that every day from 9 to 3, Daddy," she scolded at him. Plus, it was a relief for both Mulder and Scully, given that parents said they lived in the middle of nowhere and they didn't want to deal with their complaints.

"So, Lily bug. What do you want to do today? And please don't tell me watch Peppa Pig cause I'll burn the TV." Mulder asked and pleaded. He was sitting opposite his daughter on the kitchen table while she had breakfast. Scully busied herself baking Lily's favourite cake: plain chocolate with vanilla frosting.

"I wanna go to the woods," she answered without looking up from her maple syrup drenched waffles. Mulder turned and looked at his wife and saw that she was already smiling at him. Both of them were thinking the same thing and they knew it. "Why are you staring at each other?" Lily broke their gaze while she took a big gulp of milk.

"Do you know what we did the last time we went to the woods?" Scully sat down next to her and caressed her hair.

"Nope. What?" Lily looked at her intently with curiosity in her eyes. She had a dribble of maple syrup running down her chin and Scully wiped it off with a napkin.

"We found a pile of leaves and we played with them." Mulder said with an astonished voice. Scully smiled at the memory. The beautiful walk in the woods five years ago during a warm Autumn afternoon trying to get Lily to calm down and sleep that ended with them throwing leaves up in the air and a night sitting by the fire, drinking hot apple cider (turns out Mulder made a mean hot apple cider, but a disgusting mulled wine.)

Lily's eyes beamed and she started to jump in her seat, "I wanna do that, too!" She clapped her hands in excitement and looked at her parents back and forth. She reminded Mulder so much of Scully with her red hair and freckles, and she had the same look of excitement Scully had anytime Mulder would surprise her with chocolates.

"Well, the weather's warm enough and there are plenty of leaves on the ground. I enjoyed our last trip to the woods, Scully. I say we go back there and make a fool out of ourselves again." Mulder smiled and high-fived Lily.

"But Daddy, it's your birthday, too. What do you want to do next?" Lily remarked.

"Absolutely nothing. I just want to spend time with my beautiful girls and continue to get old." Mulder kissed his daughter on the cheek and she giggled. Scully walked up to him and sat on his lap.

"Yay! I'll go get ready!"

"No, no, no. Wait a second, young lady. First I have to finish up your cake and then I made your favourite food for lunch. I don't like you cranky, so you'll have to take a nap. We'll go afterwards. Deal?" Scully called down and Lily frowned.

"Okay, fine. But I'm watching Peppa Pig until then." She scrunched her nose in anger at Mulder and sat on the couch, turning on the TV.

Scully kissed Mulder fully on the lips and hugged him. "Happy birthday, my handsome fox."

"Ugh, please don't call me that. But thank you, my smoking hot vixen." Mulder retaliated, knowing that Scully hated being called that just as much as he hated being called a fox, either as a nickname or by his own name. Scully laughed into his shoulder and kissed his neck.

"I'm sorry. You know that day when we were coming back home that you thought you might get lucky?" She teased by nibbling his neck. "You might get it tonight." She whispered.

Mulder groaned. "Oh, woman, please don't. Stop it or we'll have to leave the child unattended with the oven on." Scully kissed his neck one last time and hopped off his lap. "But you will be punished for getting that little girl's hopes up which ended in a marathon of that insufferable pig." Mulder pointed to the TV screen - to which Lily's eyes were glued to - and scolded her.

Scully smiled a cheeky smile, "good."

Xxxxx

William showed up unexpectedly for lunch with a big teddy bear for his baby sister and a bottle of wine for his father – although he didn't call him that yet. All three of them couldn't have been more happy to see him, given that the last time he showed up was the previous Christmas. However, they were thankful that his visits had increased ever since Lily was born; he was a sucker for his sister.

After lunch they sat on the couch while William updated his parents with his latest whereabouts. Lily slept peacefully with her head on his lap, stubbornly refusing to go to her own room. They invited him to stay for the remainder of the day, but he politely declined, saying that he had to catch a train to somewhere (he didn't want to say where.)

Lily woke up at almost 4pm and William left almost immediately, promising to return soon. She had tried to persuade him to stay, but not even she could convince him – and she was a pretty good convincer.

Just as he had ordered five years ago, Mulder told Scully and Lily to take a jacket because it was going to get cold. Lily ran into the woods, always aware of staying within eyesight of her parents. Mulder and Scully walked behind her hand-in-hand talking about how nothing had changed.

They got to the opening and discovered that the same piles where neatly set up. They didn't know exactly who had made them, but it was as if that person knew that they were going to go there to have fun.

Lily ran straight to one of the piles and jumped right inside it, squealing and laughing. "This is so much fun!"

"What do you say, Scully? Want to join her?" Mulder suggested.

Scully had the advantage that there was no pregnant belly that kept her from running and jumping up and down. She grinned at him, wiggled her eyebrows and sprinted towards Lily. Lily was already rearranging the pile of leaves when she saw her Mom run for one of them. She clapped her hands in encouragement and laughed when Scully's body hit the pile, destroying it completely. Mulder laughed with her and followed.

In no time, all piles where destroyed and put back together. They threw them in the air – just as they did five years ago -, they jumped right in them, they tried to make angels, but they wouldn't properly remain on the ground. "Mama, why can't I make any angels?" Lily had questioned, to which Scully replied that they could make snow angels in Winter.

The sun started to set and they decided to return to their home. Lily had started to get tired and Scully knew that she'd fall asleep in no time.

"Wait, wait. Let's take a picture." Mulder said and Lily ran to him and removed the hair from her face, getting into position.

"Ugh, Mulder, no. Not another one." Scully protested.

"Come on, Scully. Let's take one just like the one we did last time, but with Lily bug." He was now holding his cell phone up and motioned for Scully to join them. As last time, she didn't bother to take the leaves out of her hair and posed for the picture.

"Okay, that's enough. Let's go back home for some birthday cake," Scully ordered and turned to Lily to zip her jacket. Her daughter was quick though, and when she heard 'birthday cake' she started running towards their home. Mulder and Scully looked at each other, chuckled and walked back holding hands.

Xxxxx

Scully's cake was the best one yet and Lily fell asleep as she ate it. Correction: she fell asleep on top of the generous piece of cake her Mom had placed on the paper plate in front of her. She carefully cleaned her face and Mulder took her up to her room.

When he came back downstairs, Scully was waiting for him with another cake. "You didn't think that I wasn't going to make another cake for you, did you?"

"Scully, one cake was enough. But thank you." He smiled and kissed her.

"We still have to celebrate your birthday." Scully wiggled her eyebrows and turned, walking to the fridge while moving her hips to put the cake away. Mulder bit his fist so as to not jump at her right that second.

"God, woman. Have mercy." He ran to her and kissed her deeply. She tasted of chocolate and love.

"Come on, let's go upstairs. Your birthday present awaits." Scully took Mulder's hand and he followed her as she lead him up the stairs. They were up only two steps when they heard the sound of an envelope sliding under the door.

Both of them headed towards the envelope and Mulder grabbed it. There was a small slip of paper with something written on it in perfect handwriting and Mulder read it to himself. His brows furrowed in confusion and then his face was filled with surprise and happiness. "Scully, you have to read this." Scully took the slip of paper from him and read out loud:

" _Fox and Dana,_

 _I hope you enjoyed the pile of leaves I made for you, and I'm glad you enjoyed them as well five years ago._

 _I'll see you soon._

 _William."_

Scully's expression mimicked Mulder's and they grinned at each other. Not only had their son been with them on the day of Mulder and their daughter's birthday, but he was also there five years ago. He was the one who had arranged the leaves and they were the ones who destroyed the perfectly set piles. In retrospect, Scully now felt bad about not putting them back up. Although he remained distant from them, he also remained close in many ways, either in person or in the little things that he did. He wasn't a bad person as he said he was.

Today, Mulder and Scully couldn't be more thankful that he had shown up for their daughter's birthday – as well as Mulder's (he had to remind himself about that little detail -) and that Lily got to spend time with her favourite person in the whole world, as she once called William. As they walked back home she announced that today had been her best birthday ever and that they should do the same every year. They looked at each other lovingly and Scully placed her head against Mulder's shoulder who hugged her in return.

Speaking for himself, Mulder couldn't be more grateful that he had had the perfect birthday; and he actually hoped every birthday was the same from hereon. He didn't need gifts or cake or a big celebration; spending the day with his family was enough. And if his birthday was the same as this year's had been, then he sure hopes every day's his birthday.


End file.
